The present invention relates to a device for cleaning the mesial and distal faces or the proximal faces of teeth, that is the facing surfaces of two adjacent teeth.
It is known that the proximal faces of teeth are often the seat of disease, particularly caries. Therefore it is advisable to keep the proximal faces of teeth as clean as possible, all the more because fragments of food are often retained there.
The use of tooth-picks is known for dislodging fragments of food from the gaps between adjacent teeth. Tooth-picks are most certainly effective for this purpose, but they do not allow the facing surfaces of adjacent teeth to be cleaned. The use of waxed textile thread is known to this end, which is moved upwards and downwards after it has been introduced between two adjacent teeth. The use of thread of this type is very time-consuming because after the thread has been introduced between two adjacent teeth, it has to be moved from the apical plane of the teeth towards the gun or vice versa, in order to thoroughly sweep across the proximal faces of the teeth. The use of virtually conical brushes in the shape of a rat's tail is also known for cleaning the proximal faces of adjacent teeth. These known brushes are often relatively ineffective because in many cases the gap between the proximal faces of adjacent teeth is too small to allow the bristles of these brushes which are embedded in the end of a support to pass through.